Thanks for the link Sean....yes between the Marlins moves and the Nationals moves, the NL East should be much tougher this year.....and Woe to all those poor Met fans out there.....big Money team in the biggest Market in the world and destined for last place.....very sad.

John Lannan is the odd man out in the Nationals rotation and he lost in arbitration and will make 5million. Could Ben get Lannon in a trade, looks like they were going to pay Roy 5 million. Lannon could be upset with losing the arbitration hearing. He would be nice #5 guy...Posted by beavis

John Lannan is the odd man out in the Nationals rotation and he lost in arbitration and will make 5million. Could Ben get Lannon in a trade, looks like they were going to pay Roy 5 million. Lannon could be upset with losing the arbitration hearing. He would be nice #5 guy...Posted by beavis

Good thing is Lannan has one option remaining so could be parked in AAA if didn't make the cut in rotation. Bad thing is we have enough surplus replacement - level only pitchers available for 3 AAA teams now.

Suggest offer to take Lannan if Nationals pay $3.5 million of salary, Sox pay $ 1.5 mil. Prospect cost Lars Anderson, Mike Bowden plus a bag of balls only. Good thing is Lannan has one option remaining so could be parked in AAA if didn't make the cut in rotation. Bad thing is we have enough surplus replacement - level only pitchers available for 3 AAA teams now.Posted by jimedfred

Why not just ask them to pay his salary while we take him off their hands. I am sure they are not trying to pare down their payroll.

Does Young Ben realize that Oswalt's price wet up ? Hope this guy knows what he is doing here. I for one am worried about this offseason and the starting pitching staff.Posted by AL34

This makes sense. You lose a potential suitor, leaving three, two of which don't have a spot for you, and you think that that means you have more leverage? I had never considered that.

As for Jackson and the Nationals, I think they will be a lot better this year. Their lineup is deep, and if Jackson can find some consistency, Strasburg, Gonzalez, and Jackson are a pretty solid 1-2-3.

Suggest offer to take Lannan if Nationals pay $3.5 million of salary, Sox pay $ 1.5 mil. Prospect cost Lars Anderson, Mike Bowden plus a bag of balls only. Good thing is Lannan has one option remaining so could be parked in AAA if didn't make the cut in rotation. Bad thing is we have enough surplus replacement - level only pitchers available for 3 AAA teams now.Posted by jimedfred

A better option than John Lannan might be another lefthander under his team's control for two more years: Seattle's Jason Vargas.

Lannan has a 2012 salary of $5 million and Vargas a 2012 salary of $4.85 million even though Lannan has been valued at only 2.5 WAR in 328 innings over the past two seasons while Vargas has been valued at 5.0 WAR in 393.2 innings over the same period.